Job Description
Job Title: Pre-volunteering Worker
Reporting to: Mental Health Project Manager
Salary: NJC SO1 pt. 30 - £25,472 + LW
Hours: 35 hours per week
Duration: 1 year with possible continuation
Holidays: 28 days
Background
Small Steps is one of the projects based within Volunteer Centre Lewisham, the local volunteering development agency for London Borough of Lewisham.
Small Steps tackles issues of mental health and social exclusion by increasing supported volunteering opportunities in London Borough of Lewisham. It aims to help people experiencing mental health difficulties to volunteer in a wide range of settings, thereby increasing their confidence, skills, social networks and employability.
The project has evolved out of previous mental health projects; we have taken the learning from these and developed a more supportive, tailored approach to volunteering for people experiencing mental health difficulties.
This project aims to reduce the reliance of people with mental health problems on intensive acute and secondary mental health services by creating a complete programme that:
a) develops the capacity of volunteer involving organisations to engage and support volunteers experiencing mental health difficulties.
b) develops new skills foundation, improved confidence and promoting self worth through volunteering and community participation
c) supports individuals who are not yet ready to start volunteering in taking ‘small steps’ towards personal goals
Key Aims of Pre-Volunteering Project
Previous work has demonstrated that a lot of people experiencing mental health difficulties find the process of on-going volunteering daunting, and can quickly give up.
The Pre-Volunteering Project seeks to address this by offering a broader range of opportunities to engage, including personal development training, Time banking and volunteering taster sessions. Thereby providing a service that meets individual needs, creating a step by step process towards on-going, regular volunteering.
The responsibility of the Pre-Volunteering Worker is to assess the support required, create a development plan with prospective volunteers, identify their interests and match them with suitable workshops, training and pre-volunteering opportunities, providing ongoing support to gain the maximum benefit from their community engagement.
Activities
There will be a number of activities including workshops and talks in:
· Confidence building
· Relating confidence building to volunteer situations
· Positive Self
· Dealing with Rejections
· Criticism – positive and negatives
Pre-volunteering and Timebank opportunities will be developed with volunteer involving groups across Lewisham
Delivery
1. To work closely with The Project Manager and Brokerage Worker to deliver a complete supported volunteering programme
2. To identify potential referrers, including Community Mental Health teams and Primary Care providers
3. To assess the interests of people referred to the project and support them into appropriate activities
4. To act as a source of support and advice for people with mental health problems seeking to volunteer
5. To organise workshops that will support personal development and the aims of the project
6. To support voluntary organisations in supporting people with mental health problems who volunteer for them
7. To attend Small Steps Steering Group meetings
8. To maintain links with mental health services
9. To work with the mental health services to promote volunteering within mental health settings
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting
10. To monitor the activity of the Pre-Volunteering service keeping appropriate records
11. To assess the impact of Pre-volunteering on volunteers and the organisations that they are placed within
12. To produce regular reports for the Project Manager
13. To maintain appropriate records to meet the needs of the funders
Other
14. To deal with enquiries relating to the work of VCL
15. To undertake occasional out of hours and weekend work for which TOIL
is granted
16. To work within the policies and procedures of VCL in particular Equal
Opportunities and Health and Safety
17. To carry out other duties consistent with the objectives of the post as
Required
Person Specification
Ability & Experience
Essential
1. Experience of supporting people to access volunteering time banking opportunities
2. Working with adults with severe and enduring mental health conditions
3. Experience of brokerage work
4. Experience of organising and facilitating training
5. Experience of working with a variety of voluntary and community sector organisations
6. Experience of supervising volunteers
7. Experience of monitoring output and outcomes
8. Ability to assess the developmental needs of volunteers and how this might impact on people with mental health issues
9. Ability to write reports and disseminate and evaluate information
10. Ability to work on own initiative, and to manage and prioritise own workload
11. Knowledge of good practice in the management of volunteers
Desirable
12. Experience of developing volunteer opportunities
13. Experience delivering training/ facilitating workshops
Knowledge & Understanding
Essential
14. An understanding of the barriers to social engagement faced by people experiencing mental health difficulties
15. Understanding of the potential benefits of volunteering to people with severe enduring mental health issues
16. A thorough understanding of equalities and how to apply it in a work setting
17. A good understanding of Voluntary and Community Sector
18. An understanding of impact assessments and their place within volunteering
Desirable
19. An understanding of partnership working across the sectors
Skills
Essential
20. IT skills (database, Word, e-mail, internet)
21. Good verbal and written communication skills
Availability
22. To be available to work occasional evenings and weekends
Please note that any applications received after mid-day on 20th June 2012 will not be considered. Therefore please ensure that applications are sent in good time, allowing for technical glitches.
Small Steps Pre-Volunteering Worker 2012